Beyond the networked city: building innovative delivery systems for water, sanitation and energy in urban Africa

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Civil Engineering

Abstract

Our research will develop and test improved systems to deliver water, sanitation and energy services to marginalised people living in urban areas. These services are selected because they represent the most fundamental needs of urban populations and are the focus of SDG 6 (water and sanitation) and SDG 7 (energy). Our work will support the achievement of SDG 11 (sustainable communities and cities).
The research will be undertaken in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Kampala, Uganda. The population in both these cities is growing rapidly, with significant levels of poverty and significant numbers of informal settlements. Current rates of access to water supply, sanitation and energy are low in these cities, with striking inequalities in access to these services between wealthy and poor areas. The rapid increase in population has led to communities being established that are distant from existing infrastructure and difficult to serve. Households in marginalised communities therefore have to access water, sanitation and energy from informal and often 'off-grid' sources. This includes, for instance, using charcoal for energy, dug wells or protected springs for domestic water and basic on-site sanitation.
Our research will combine social, economic and political analysis with insights from natural and engineering science to understand how the infrastructure, management, finance and governance can be developed to improve water, sanitation and energy services. Our research is designed in five inter-related work areas. We will first establish a thorough understanding of each city. We will analyse how the cities have developed to date and how they are likely to develop in the future; we will identify which areas have access to formal services and which have access to informal services; and will we map the hazards and risks in each city. We will use data collected from official statistics to analyse each city and in Freetown we will use remotely sensed data from NASA to map the city.
We will then assess the formal on-grid services, using data key attributes of the infrastructure to develop risk maps. We will research the attitudes of suppliers, policy makers and city officials regarding the challenges and opportunities to extend services to people who don't currently have access. We will complement this by looking at how informal suppliers provide services, including the technologies they use and their business models. We will assess the resilience of the services and research the perceptions of the informal suppliers about how services can be improved and what they see as being their role in this. Next we will work in four marginalised communities to understand how and from where they currently access services, how much they pay and their perception of the quality of services. We will explore what people living communities think would be the best way to improve services and who they think should provide services.
We will use all the data we have collected about the city, from suppliers of services and from communities to develop a set of options for improving services to marginalised communities. This will use a 'Delphi' method that uses discussions to build consensus on which are the best options. We will involve policy makers, service providers and members of marginalised communities to develop the preferred options. The final part of our research will be to test specific interventions in four communities. We will undertake a formal outcome evaluation to assess how well these options work and undertake a value for money assessment of each option. We will also develop city-wide plans for the development of services over time. Throughout our research we will engage with local people, decision-makers and funders to ensure that our research addresses the questions they think are most important and to maximise the potential for our research to influence service development in each city.

Planned Impact

We have designed this project to maximise the potential for impact and have made impact a central consideration at each stage in the design. Th approach we have adopted in the research design, strongly rooted in the realities of each city and engaging with communities, service providers, policy makers and funders, ensures that our research will respond to the priorities of people living and providing services in each city and engages them in the research process.
The beneficiaries of this research fall into three groups. Firstly, we expect people living marginalised communities in both cities to benefit by supporting them to access safer, more reliable and more resilient water supply, sanitation and energy services. By directly involving communities in the research to identify their concerns and to understand their preferences, the findings and recommendations will reflect their needs and demands. By actively engaging the four selected communities in the Delphi workshops to develop preferred options, we will provide a direct voice for marginalised people on how and where services should be improved. These four communities will also directly benefit from the testing of the options, resulting in improvements in service delivery for them. Other marginalised communities will ultimately benefit from the development of municipal-wide service development plans which are based on the reality of their environments and experiences.
The second group of beneficiaries are the formal and informal providers of services and municipal authorities in each city, who will have access to evidence-based options and plans to help extend and maintain high quality services across their city. By using our research to look at the resilience of their systems and risks they face, and by working with them to identify their views on how services can be improved, our research findings will reflect the constraints and conditions they must operate within. Their role in the Delphi workshops and subsequent testing of options means that they will play a central role in developing new service delivery models that are realistic and deliverable. Their inputs into the municipal-wide plans that are the final output of the research will mean they have a stake in ensuring these can be successfully delivered. We anticipate that the models that emerge for testing and the municipal plans will include provision for formalising the important role of informal suppliers and so provide long-term opportunities for their business development.
The final group of beneficiaries are national and international policy makers who will have access to evidence-based models of service delivery for marginalised communities in rapidly growing urban areas. This will help national authorities plan the future development of these two cities and the other towns and cities in their countries. For international policy makers, it will provide models that can be applied in other countries and similar settings. Their engagement particularly in the Delhi workshops will allow them to both input and define preferred options, but also to hear the voices of marginalised communities and service providers directly, which will help them in defining more responsive policies.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Over the past year, we have generated new evidence on what approaches are most effective in increasing access to piped wsater supply for low-income communities and households in Uganda. This data is being used to directly work with the water utility - National Water & Sewerage Corporation - develop new pro-poor programmes of work to accelerate access to piped water supply. This will support the acheivement of SDG 6 in Uganda and the experience will be used to demonstrate to other utilities in other African cities how access can be increased.
At the same time, we have initated pilot activities in both Freetown and Kampala to demonstrate the use of energy efficient technologies and promote wider uptake of their use in low-income communities. These interventions will support acheivement of SDG 7. In addition, the training and support to energy champions in Freetown is increasing awareness of energy efficient technologies and the benefits of clean technologies in low-income communities. By supporting cooking demonstrations, we will support great uptake of clean fuels for energy intensive tasks at a household level. Our work on governance of energy systems has helped geenrate new evidence on how governance of energy provision can be improved in Africa and is leading to a new policy focused evidence note.

We have continued to develop our research building on the work carried out to date. We have deepened the knowledge of communities in the study cities, how they access services, and their preferences for improved services; we have undertake detailed assessments of infrastructure and service providers active in water, sanitation and energy; and, we have developed new engagement and collaboration with communities, service providers and local governments that are leading to testing of approaches to improve access to service in low-income kurbvan communitiues in Africa. We have developed testable options for improving services and are now starting to assess these and model their likely impact . The cuts in funding to the project as a consequence of the ODA cuts has meant we have not been able to develop interventions because we did not have confirmed funding for their testing.

We have compiled a detailed set of data and evidence for the water, sanitation and energy services in Kampala and Freetown drawn from multiple sources and which provide a comprehensive overview of the different services which has previously not been available. This is providing the evidence to identify where services are vulnerable, the options for service improvement and to inform engagement with communities on their preferences for services. In the long-term this will support improved access to services in each city and contribute to poverty reduction and in addressing inequalities in access between different population groups and taking into account gender inequality in access and participation in decision-making. In addition, we have developed a detailed vulnerability map of the piped water system for Kampala and an outline vulnerability map for Freetown which for the first time allows us to estimate where the critical points within the infrastructure lie and how we should prioritise actions to reduce vulnerability.
Exploitation Route We expect the NWSC to use the findings from our evaluation to revise and improve their policies and practices in service provision to low-income communities and households. We also expect our findings to have wider impact as a model for utilities across the continent to increase access. We have a wide range of partners in our energy pilot projects and we anticipate this will lead to long-term change in provision of clean energy sources in low-inmcome communities in African cities.

The outcomes from this project will help both the development of more sustainable, equitable and resilient services in the two citities in which our project field work is being undertaken. This should be realised over the next 18 months. Secondly we are developing a model for others to follow in terms of analysing problems at city-wide level and using data from multiple sources to help define options fpor service delivery for poor people in African cities.

The findings to date will be useful for our partners in both cities consider how services are currently provided and what future initiatives are required to improve service quality. These findings will therefore help both Uganda and Sierra Leone tackle core development challenges in the provision of water, sanitation and energy services and contribute to improved urban planning and environments. Our findings will help support delivery of sustainable development goals (SDGs) 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities) in Sierra Leone and Uganda. We expect that our detailed analysis of the needs of different population groups and differentiated gender needs in accessing services will help to address inequality in access and decision-making over service provision.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Energy

 
Description Our work on evaluating the NWSC apprtoach to increasing access to piped water supply for low-income communities and households has led to an ongoing discussion on hpow policy and practice in the utility should move forward. This is leading to discussion of new initatives by NWSC to deliver piped services to previously unserved or under-served communities. We are also discussing with NWSC how to assess climate vulnerability and resilience within their systems to help plan how future climate change risks can be managed. Our work on energy in both Kampala and Freetown is leading to new community initiatives to promote and acquire clean energy technologies and to promote energy efficiency. In the long-term this will help in increasing access to clean, safe energy in all communities. The engagement of local authorites and the regulator in Sierra Leone opens up new opportunities for regulatory reform around the provision of energy which will benefit low-income communities and households. In Freetown the involvement of key stakeholders, such as community leaders, city council representatives, NGOs, INGOs, project partners (PESIA), women's groups, and government officials, in the construction of the community kitchen in Portee Rokupa has been instrumental in the success of the project. Their active participation and support have not only facilitated the physical development of the kitchen but have also created a sense of ownership and empowerment within the community. This collaborative approach has fostered strong relationships and partnerships, enhancing the resilience and sustainability of the project. It is essential to continue engaging these stakeholders and empower residents to actively participate in the management and operations of the community kitchen. Establishing community committees or energy champions dedicated to overseeing the kitchen's functions will further strengthen community ownership and ensure that the facility remains a valuable resource for all residents. By involving community members in decision-making processes and encouraging their active involvement, the project can continue to thrive and make a lasting impact on the community of Portee Rokupa. Ongoing engagement with stakeholders and advocacy efforts will ensure that the conversation continues, with a focus on engaging policymakers and sharing best practices with other communities. The project team plans to collaborate with local organizations and government bodies, such as the Presidential Initiatives on Climate Change, Renewable Energy, and Food Security (PI-CREF) in the Office of the President that are promoting clean cooking initiatives, to promote the replication of similar interventions in other informal settlements. This will help build a legacy of sustainable and inclusive practices, leveraging policy impacts from PI-CREF's clean cooking initiatives to provide additional support for sustainable cleaning solutions. By integrating the community kitchen into broader development initiatives, particularly in the area of clean cooking, in the settlement, its sustainability and long-term impact can be ensured to extend beyond the targeted communities, leading to positive change in other informal settlements. Through policy dialogue discussion with government officials and institutions, we hope to call to action for replicating the community kitchen interventions in other communities. This will involve jointly developing a replicability strategy to provide a clear roadmap for replication, facilitating the adoption of the model in diverse communities. Furthermore, the project team is exploring opportunities for knowledge sharing and learning exchanges to disseminate the lessons learned from this intervention. By sharing their experiences and success stories, they aim to inspire and empower other communities and organizations to take similar actions to address challenges related to energy access by incorporating clean cooking technologies and practices to promote health and safety among its users while reducing their carbon footprint. Active involvement and support from project partners and potential donors will be sought during and after the formal launch of the community kitchen. This will focus on collaboration opportunities, funding requirements, and the broader impact of expanding the intervention. By garnering commitment and support from stakeholders, the initiative aims to achieve greater sustainability and reach a wider audience through effective partnerships. As a consequence of our research and engagement, we were requested by the National Water & Sewerrage Corporation (NWSC), Uganda, to evaluate their approach to providing household water access to low-income communities that was developed as part of the COVID response with support from MTN (mobile service provider). NWSC are interested to understand whether this approach is a viable as a long-term solution to increasing access to piped water supply in urban areas of Uganda. Our engagement with government and service providers in Freetown has led to thre development of a 'festival of services' that will be held in the main community in the projevct as a means of creating more enagagement in co-production of solutions to poor access to services.
First Year Of Impact 2024
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Energy
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description Development of guidelines for WASH in health care facilities
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description Review of progress on SDGs Ugabnda
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Decentralised Urban Energy Access in Africa
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W524232/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2021 
End 03/2022
 
Description ES/X004392/1
Amount £14,931 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/X004392/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2023 
End 05/2024
 
Title Risk analysis tool for piped water and sewerage systems 
Description We are developing a new risk analysis tool that can be applied to piped water systems and sewerage systems that describe the vulnerability of systems and the hazards they are threatened by. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This tool is being further developed to become an operational decision tool and ultimately will help service operators in their routine work and in prioritising actions to improve services and help guide investment strategies. 
 
Title Community datasets Freetown and Kampala 
Description We have developed detailed datasets on water, sanitation, and energy access in low-income communitiues in Freetown and Kampala. This provide a wealth of data on current practices, perceptions, and future demand among low-income households. The data is not yet publicly available but will be at the end of the project. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This detailed data will help develop options for service delivery improvement in the future. 
 
Title NWSC evaluation 
Description We have created a new data set of household preferences for access to piped water supply in Kampala. This documents which type of provision is preferred and what barriers exist that limit access to an at-house water supply. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This data will be used to influence NWSC practice moving forward in the provision of piped water supply to low-income communities and households. 
 
Title Understanding piped system vulnerability 
Description We have developed a new model for assessing the vulnerability of piped water and sewerage systems that is dynamic and can be linked to climate variables into an overall risk model and can also be used to predict future growth in demand and risks associated with this. 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact We anticipate this new model being of use to water supply and water sewerage operators in their planning and management of their systems. 
 
Description Cabot Institute 
Organisation University of Bristol
Department Cabot Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Members of the University of Bristol team (Professor Howard, Dr Pregnolato, Dr Williamson and Dr Aggarwal) have contributed to discussion on urban futures in the cross-University Cabot Institute of the Environment. This has led to increased profile within the University and via the Cabot website to the general public.
Collaborator Contribution The Cabot Institute City futures theme bring together researchers from many different disciplines and focus and their inputs have helped the research team frame their objectives and vision for this project.
Impact Our contribution to the Cabot institute has the importance of ensuring urban populations in low- and middle-income countries have access to safe, sustainable and resilient services if cities are to healthy and productive environments.
Start Year 2020
 
Description GWA Water Security Alliance urban dynamics of water security working group 
Organisation Cardiff University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The GWA Water Security Alliance (WSA) is a group of academics drawn from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff sand Exeter. On the basis of this project we have supported the WSA develop a new working group focused on the issues related to the provision of water and sanitation services and sustainable water management in urban areas of Africa. We are part of the steering committee for the working group and we are helping to frame how this group will foster knowledge-exchange and capacity development across the four Universities and our partners.
Collaborator Contribution The leads on the working group bring different perspectives on water and sanitation service provision in urban Africa, ranging from socio-economic perspectives to new metrics for measuring water security. These perspectives are helping to develop a rounded and comprehensive approach o understanding these issues and helping to inform our thinking in relation to our research.
Impact There are no outputs to date. The group is inter-disciplinary including social scientists, engineers and physical scientists.
Start Year 2020
 
Description GWA Water Security Alliance urban dynamics of water security working group 
Organisation University of Bath
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The GWA Water Security Alliance (WSA) is a group of academics drawn from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff sand Exeter. On the basis of this project we have supported the WSA develop a new working group focused on the issues related to the provision of water and sanitation services and sustainable water management in urban areas of Africa. We are part of the steering committee for the working group and we are helping to frame how this group will foster knowledge-exchange and capacity development across the four Universities and our partners.
Collaborator Contribution The leads on the working group bring different perspectives on water and sanitation service provision in urban Africa, ranging from socio-economic perspectives to new metrics for measuring water security. These perspectives are helping to develop a rounded and comprehensive approach o understanding these issues and helping to inform our thinking in relation to our research.
Impact There are no outputs to date. The group is inter-disciplinary including social scientists, engineers and physical scientists.
Start Year 2020
 
Description GWA Water Security Alliance urban dynamics of water security working group 
Organisation University of Exeter
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The GWA Water Security Alliance (WSA) is a group of academics drawn from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff sand Exeter. On the basis of this project we have supported the WSA develop a new working group focused on the issues related to the provision of water and sanitation services and sustainable water management in urban areas of Africa. We are part of the steering committee for the working group and we are helping to frame how this group will foster knowledge-exchange and capacity development across the four Universities and our partners.
Collaborator Contribution The leads on the working group bring different perspectives on water and sanitation service provision in urban Africa, ranging from socio-economic perspectives to new metrics for measuring water security. These perspectives are helping to develop a rounded and comprehensive approach o understanding these issues and helping to inform our thinking in relation to our research.
Impact There are no outputs to date. The group is inter-disciplinary including social scientists, engineers and physical scientists.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Partnership with NWSC, Uganda 
Organisation National Water and Sewerage Corporation
Country Uganda 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The team from Makerere University involved in Beyond the Networked City have developed a new collaboration with National Water & Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) to undertake an evaluation of the approach developed by NWSC with support from MTN (mobile phone provider) to support low-income households can access to piped water supplies during COVID and assess whether this approach can be adopted as a long-term strategy. The Makerere team is being supported by the UK BNC members to design the evaluation and analyse the data. The findings will contribute to the wider BNC learning. The evaluation study engagement took on an iterative and co-production process. The BNC team from Makerere established knowledge gaps that would inform decision making for NWSC during main project data collection process and the BNC team engaged NWSC to defdine the scope of the study and key themes of interest to integrate in the data collection tools. The evaluation collected data through household surveys and focus-group disucssions in two communities complemented by key informant interviews with staff from NWSC during August to December 2023. Analysis of the data started in January 2024 and we are now in the process of finalising the data analysis of both the quantiative survey data and qualitative data. We are working with NWSC to agree a date for a dissemination event which planned for Mid-April and will target various stakeholders in the private, public, civil society, advocacy and academic sectors. Capacity development activity will target the local leaders, selected community members and service delivery models managers within the areas where they are installed. We presented some of the preliminary findings at the BNC workshop at the IWA Development Congress held in Kigali in December 2023. In addition we expect to prepare two papers for submission to peer reviewed journals, as well as an evidence brief for NWSC and national policy-makers.
Collaborator Contribution NWSC are actively participating in the evaluation design and are providing support in the organisation of community level workshops and in using the findings to develop training for community groups. A working Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exists between Makerere University and NWSC, which was leveraged to execute the partnership to implement the study. T NWSC provided in-kind support for the evaluation. NWSC tasked the Pro-poor Unit Manager and the staff within the unit, together with the engineer to directly support the research process to link the team with the various branches within the study areas targeted. Further, one staff from NWSC was fully released to directly participate in all trainings and data collection processes. NWSC are working with the BNC team to design a dissemination event and have agreed to use the findings in their future operational plannig around provision of water servcies to low-income ommunties.
Impact Evaluation report for NWSC documenting the findings of the evaluation and recommendations for action based on our findings (in draft). Dissemination workshop with senior NWSC staff to present the fndings of the study. Two papers to be submitted to peer reviewed journals, one on the purely qualitative aspects and one combining both quantitative and qualitative data.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Community engagement on improvement options for water and energy 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Within Freetown, we have been having ongoing enagagement with local community involved in the BNC study (Portee-Rokupa) to feedback the findings of the field studies undertaken to date and to start preparing further engagement activities with the community to define future options for improving access to energy, water and sanitation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022,2023
 
Description Community outreach and awareness 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact We have had a serires of structured engagements with community members and leaders in the two citiles where we are working to discuss the project and its aims, and to discuss how the findings may help in improvig access to services, In addition, we have engaged with sachet drinking water distributors, borehole and wells owners and caretakers, toilet artisans and manual and mechanical toilet emptiers in Freetown to discuss the project and the potential role they have in improving service dfelivery.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Engagement with FCDO technical staff 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The PI has discussions with the Health of Profession for Infrastructure in what was DFID to discuss the project and how this project may contribute to wider O|DA objectives in relation to water, sanitation and energy services and wider urban development in Africa. The purpose of this engagement is to ensure that we develop impact from the project by encouraging uptake of our findings by a key bilateral donor. The outcome was a commitment to continue to engage, although this has been put on hold given the recent merger of DFID and the FCO.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Engagement with WWF 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Engagement meeting with World Wide Fund (WWF) to share information on the Beyond the Networked City project and to the previous experiences from WWF regarding similar works projects and to discuss successful experiences by WWF regarding previous research on the energy situation in informal settlements.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Engagement with WWF 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Engagement meeting with World Wide Fund (WWF) to share information on the Beyond the Networked City project and to the previous experiences from WWF regarding similar works projects and to discuss successful experiences by WWF regarding previous research on the energy situation in informal settlements.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Engagement with policy-makers and service providers un Freetown 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A delegation of UK and South African researchers working on the Beyond the Networked City project and held a series for formnal consultations with service providers, municipal authorities, and civil servants involved in policy development on service provision in the City. The consultations focused on key challenges and opportunities to extending both on and off-grid services to low-income communities within Freetown.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Engagement with service providers in Kampala and Freetown 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Engagements have been held at city-wide leves with service providers and decision makers workimg on water and sanitation, and energy services. We have also engaged formally with local government officials in both Kampala and Freetown. the pukrpose of these meetings has been to raise awareness of the Beyond the Networked BCity project and how this may support improved service delivery. Key staff involved were senor staff in Guma Valley Water Company, the Freetown City Council sanitation officer, and the Team Leader of the WASH Consortium (an umbrella network for NGOs in Sierra Leone.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description IWA Development Congress 2023, Kigali 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Beyond the Networked City (BNC) project team convened a workshop at the IWA Development Congress after submitting a proposal and being awarded a slot following a competitive process. The workshop's overarching question was: What water delivery models have worked well for the Urban Poor? We used the workshop to both communicate the findings from the BNC project but also to collect and discuss the findings of other work in this area.

Background and Brief Description of the Session
Urban water utilities in low- and middle-income countries face various challenges to extending and operating reticulated water services to low-income urban settlements, where over a billion people worldwide live (UN, 2021). Various water utilities have taken transitional approaches to improving services in these settlements. The purpose of this workshop was to generate discussions between various WASH professionals to explore approaches that have been used in various countries, and to what extent they have achieved the overall objective of transitioning into safely managed and climate-resilient drinking water services to the urban poor. Most of the 1.5 hour-session was spent on discussions in three breakout groups comprised participants and BNC researchers. The workshop included three presentations on the BNC findings, followed by group work framed around a set of questions related to how access to piped water may be expanded in LMIC cities.

Participants
The workshop attracted 15 participants plus nine BNC researchers. Participants were comprised of water utility managers, policy makers, regulators, development partners and researchers from the following countries :
• Cambodia
• India
• Kenya
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Sierra Leone
• Switzerland
• Uganda

In addition to the presentations on the BNC research, case studies from Abuja, Nigeria, Kigali, Rwanda, Machakos, Kenya, Water Utilities in Zambia, Tamil Nadu Municipal Authority, India, Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Nairobi Water, Kenya were discussed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Participation in Attended UKCDR's 'Preventing Harm in Research' webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Sam Williamson participated in this workshop and was able to use the information and knowledge gained to support the development of the project safeguarding strategy and plan.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Participation in the GCRF Off-grid cities and sustainable energy virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Two members of the team (Guy Howard and Liza Cirolia) participated in the GCRF Off-grid cities and sustainable energy virtual workshop. This event provided an opportunity to engage with a wide range of research teams working on similar ODA-funded research projects and to explore issues where multiple projects are looking at and to learn rom other research teams how they are approaching these issues and delivery of research in LMICs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Poster presentation at Energy and Climate Transformations: International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Attendance at the Energy and Climate Transformations: International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science to present a Poster: "Energy service provision in urban informal settlements: An analysis from Kampala and Freetown"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/all/international-conference-on-energy-research-and-soci...
 
Description Presentation at the Gridding Equitable Urban Futures in Areas of Transition (GREAT) closing conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presented the work: Understanding the barriers to clean cooking in informal settlements - Case Studies from Freetown and Kampala at the closing conference for the GREAT project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/great/
 
Description Project webpage 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The project website has just been launched as of March 2021 and will be developed throughout the course of the project. We intend to use it to disseminate research outcomes including tools developed as well as academic outputs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/research/water-and-sanitation/beyond-the-networked-city/
 
Description SHaring of research findings and engagement with research groups/projects working in Freetown (ICLEI Africa, through their ENACT project) and Kampala (Spotlight Kampala, UC Berkeley). 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Members of the Beyond the Networked City team focusing on energy aspects of the researhc have held consultations with otdher research groups and projects that working on energy related research in Freetown (ICLEI Africa, through their ENACT project) and in Kampala (Spotlight Kampala, UC Berkeley). This has helped create awareness of our researhc and findings and also allowed our team to get insights from other research to help inform our own research. This may also support the development of future researech collaborations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description SLURC annual conference 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The annual SLURC conference focused on housing in Sierra Leone and as a core element of this considered access to basic services inclding water, sanitation, and energy. The conference included represetnatives from Government, as well as NGOs abnd academics. THis was a high profile event that used the findings of the Beyond the Networked City to put forward options for imporovement in policy and practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description UTA-Do African Cities Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dissemination of lessons from Beyond the Networked City in two core themes in a regional urban studies workshop focused on decentralized infrastructure and international project development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Western Area Peninsula Water Fund 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Thge Co-Investogator from Sierra Leone attended an event "Western Area Peninsula Water Fund" - workshop on project implemented by jointly by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Freetown City Councile and the National Water Resources Management Agency to contribute experiences from the Beyond the Netowkrd City project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021